When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Yun Qingyu didn’t intervene as the little white tiger engaged the sand golem. The tiger’s cultivation level was now comparable to her own, and combat experience was essential. Moreover, Yun Qingyu was at her limit. Seeing the little white tiger holding her own, she consumed another spirit-replenishing pill and sat down cross-legged to refine its effects.

Meanwhile, the little white tiger was indeed putting on an impressive display against the sand golem.

Metal excels in offense while earth specializes in defense. The young tiger’s claws, infused with sharp metal energy, proved formidable even against the sand golem. The white tiger’s aim was clear—targeting the golem’s heart with her claws. One successful strike nearly destroyed the golem’s sand armor. Realizing this, the sand golem no longer underestimated its opponent, becoming more cautious in defending against the white tiger’s attacks.

The white tiger’s combat prowess wasn’t mere hearsay. Though still young, she had plenty of experience fighting spirit beasts to earn points. Even with a different opponent now, her past battle experience proved invaluable.

Moreover, she had an extra advantage…

The system’s scanning function remained active, and this time the game system had activated battle mode. In the little white tiger’s eyes, the sand golem before her became a mini-boss. A health bar floated above the boss’s head, with warnings preceding major attacks. Red indicators marked the range of these powerful moves, allowing her to dodge them once she became familiar with the warning times.

Additionally, when the little white tiger’s attacks hit heavily armored areas like the sand armor, it displayed “miss,” indicating no damage dealt. She experimented with attacking other areas, finding that exposed parts of the sand golem were vulnerable. However, the most effective target remained the chest where the golem’s heart resided.

The sand golem instinctively protected its heart, becoming more cautious. For the little white tiger, even with the chest armor still intact, attacks there dealt critical damage!

After a series of probing attacks, the little white tiger grew excited, overwhelming the sand golem while remaining untouched herself.

She watched as the sand golem’s health bar dropped to half, its armor becoming tattered. Pressing her advantage, she aimed to finish off the sand golem and then seek praise from her senior sister.

Soon, under the little white tiger’s intensified assault, the sand golem’s battered armor completely disintegrated. As the armor crumbled to sand, the golem’s health plummeted to one-third. Based on previous encounters, once the armor broke, the golem’s defense would drastically decrease, making subsequent attacks much easier.

However, before the little white tiger could rejoice, the sand golem’s health bar suddenly ignited, and its aura surged—based on years of gaming experience, this signaled the boss entering a berserk state!

The little white tiger was stunned, never expecting to trigger a berserk mode that her senior sister hadn’t in two encounters.

There was no time to dwell on this. The little white tiger saw red circles appearing on the ground, feeling the heat. She immediately channeled her spiritual energy and leaped into the air. Almost instantly, the sand below began to writhe. A single tiger hair falling gently was instantly devoured by the sand. This resembled quicksand, but the boss’s berserk ultimate attack was surely more than mere quicksand.

The little white tiger’s timely dodge brought a slight sigh of relief.

While this attack seemed ineffective against her, it was thanks to the system’s assistance. Without the game system’s aid, unable to see the red circles on the ground, she might not have anticipated the wide range of the boss’s berserk attack or thought to take to the air to avoid it… Her senior sister, lacking the system, would likely have suffered greatly from this move.

Feeling both grateful and annoyed, the little white tiger stomped her paw in midair. Suddenly, the nearby sand golem leaped up. Its health bar dropped further, and a closer look would reveal a momentary distortion in its flat, sandy features.

Just then, Yun Qingyu finished her meditation and opened her eyes to witness this scene.

With her keen eyesight, she not only saw the sand golem’s sudden jump but also noticed the flashes of cold light beneath its feet as it leapt—clearly, the little white tiger had played a dirty trick. The cub’s tactics were both amusing and effective. This foot-stabbing move, though underhanded, dealt real damage. The sand golem’s soles were riddled with holes; had it been human, the pain would have been unbearable.

Yun Qingyu smiled, but seeing that the sand golem had lost its armor, she fully relaxed. She made no move to help, placing Fuxue sword across her knees, content to watch the little white tiger slowly wear down the sand golem.

◆◇◆◇◆

Fighting the boss was somewhat tiring, especially after it entered berserk mode, unleashing multiple ultimate attacks and summoning minions twice. Compared to its earlier battle with her senior sister, its tactics had clearly multiplied.

When Jiang Mo first saw seven or eight identical sand golems emerge from the sand, she was nearly frightened out of her wits. Fortunately, she realized that golem hearts weren’t common items, so there couldn’t be that many. She engaged them one by one, easily dispatching these minion golems like cutting melons and vegetables, quickly reducing them to piles of sand on the ground.

The little white tiger swished her tail proudly, then looked up and froze—where was her boss? The large boss she had been fighting for so long? Why, amid the scattered sand piles, had the boss vanished?!

Standing in place, she scanned her surroundings but couldn’t find any trace of the sand golem. She wondered if it had escaped in the chaos.

This wasn’t impossible. After several exchanges, she had noticed that the sand golem, influenced by the golem’s heart, had developed intelligence. If it could feel anger, it could also feel fear, and fleeing out of fear seemed logical.

The little white tiger’s face darkened at this thought, but she didn’t know where to chase. The desert was vast, and she had no idea what form the sand golem might have taken after leaving the battlefield. Left with no choice, she was about to ask the system to scan for the golem’s heart when a streak of sword energy shot past her, sweeping across one of the sand piles in front of her.

The sweep of the sword scattered the sand, revealing a glimpse of icy white beneath.

The little white tiger immediately recognized it as the ice-encased golem’s heart, though the ice ball, originally the size of a small watermelon, had now melted to a thin layer… Whether due to the desert’s intense heat or its time hidden within the sand golem, the golem’s heart was on the verge of breaking free from the ice.

This couldn’t be allowed. Once the golem’s heart broke free of the ice, nothing would stop it from absorbing earth-attribute spiritual energy to create another golem.

Without hesitation, the little white tiger sent a burst of spiritual energy towards it, adding a layer of metal casing outside the icy exterior of the golem’s heart. Only after completing this did she realize that the previous sand golem, knowing it was outmatched and unable to flee for some reason, had ultimately chosen to hide among its minions in a last-ditch effort—it only needed to hide long enough for the golem’s heart to thaw, and its power would be restored.

Unfortunately, it had failed to account for Yun Qingyu observing the battle from the sidelines, keeping a close eye on it. Even without her senior sister’s help, the little white tiger with her system advantage wasn’t to be underestimated; finding the golem’s heart would have been a matter of moments.

Regardless, the battle was over, and this time, definitively.

The little white tiger shook the sand from her body, looking somewhat smug. She took a few steps forward, about to pick up the golem’s heart from the sand pile, when another unexpected event occurred. A large bird appeared out of nowhere, swooping down to snatch the golem’s heart in its beak before fleeing—perhaps due to being chased by eagles when she was weaker, the sudden appearance of a large bird overhead made the little white tiger instinctively recoil, giving the intruder an opportunity.

Fortunately, while the little white tiger faltered, Yun Qingyu, who had been observing the battle, did not. She reacted swiftly, immediately recognizing that this was no ordinary demonic beast but likely a trained creature sent to steal treasures.

After fighting so long, who would easily let go of the prize within reach?

Yun Qingyu’s beautiful eyes narrowed as she swung her sword, sending a sharp sword energy towards the fleeing bird. The bird sensed the danger behind it and tried to dodge, but it was no match for the speed of the sword energy. One of its wings was severed, and it plummeted from the sky.

Though it sounds long in the telling, all this happened in an instant. By the time the little white tiger turned her head, she saw the bird already falling.

Frustrated by her earlier hesitation, she pawed the sandy ground twice before addressing Yun Qingyu: “Senior Sister, I’ll go retrieve it.”

She was about to run off when her senior sister stopped her: “I’ll come with you.”

With people clearly coveting the golem’s heart, the little white tiger didn’t argue. She set off with her senior sister, one in front and one behind, towards where the bird had fallen. Fortunately, thanks to Yun Qingyu’s quick reaction, the bird hadn’t flown far. In moments, the pair arrived at the spot. From a distance, they saw a large vulture-like bird lying on the ground, crying pitifully, with blood steadily flowing from its wound, staining a small patch of sand dark red.

The little white tiger felt no pity at the sight, viewing the bird as nothing more than a thief. Her gaze shifted, quickly spotting the metal-encased golem’s heart not far away, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.

Without hesitation, the little white tiger dashed towards the golem’s heart—she had carelessly lost it, so naturally, she should be the one to retrieve it.

The little white tiger moved swiftly, but just as she reached the golem’s heart, both the system and her senior sister’s warnings rang out simultaneously. Without thinking, she pounced forward, first grabbing the golem’s heart in her mouth while somersaulting ahead to dodge.

This proved that picking up items in the heat of the moment can be dangerous. Despite the little white tiger’s quick evasion, the explosive talisman that detonated behind her still singed a small patch of fur on her hind leg. A searing pain swept through her, and the little white tiger turned fiercely, only to see four or five cultivators who had somehow surrounded her and her senior sister.

The ambushing cultivators, seeing the white fur beneath the sand covering the little white tiger, were taken aback: “A… white tiger?!”